The Stegosaurus and his Boy
by avanti90
Summary: Young Gregor tells Miles a bedtime story.


It happened just after dinner, when Gregor, Miles and Ivan were building castles in the Red Room. One of the tower blocks rolled across the floor, stopping near Miles' low chair. Ivan slowly began to get up, and Miles tried to get there first. He stretched out his hands and tried to move, then the special chair toppled over and then Miles was lying on the carpet, screaming.

Sergeant Bothari whisked Miles away to the infirmary in an instant, and there was nothing Gregor could do except comfort Ivan until a tired-looking Lady Alys appeared to take him home.

"Is he broken again?" Gregor asked Lady Vorkosigan that night. "Not this time, luckily," she said. "Though we'll have to get a new chair. At least he's getting stronger..." She looked sad.

Gregor tried to sleep after she left, but he couldn't. He tossed and turned, and at last he got out of bed and crossed the corridor to the nursery. He pushed open the door very softly. He could hear Miles crying softly from the other end of the room, where his special bed stood next to the window. Gregor went to the cupboard and began rummaging amongst the toys, looking for something that would distract Miles. His eye fell on something bright yellow at the back, buried under a unicorn and a lightflyer.

With some difficulty, Gregor managed to pull out the old plastic stegosaurus. It was scuffed and dented, and one of its front legs was broken. He turned it over, remembering the last time he had seen it, a long time ago.

He had asked Mama if he could have another piece of pie for his friend, and she had smiled and said yes. And then they had heard shouts from outside, and the soldiers had thrown open the door.

Gregor looked up suddenly, breathing fast. The door was closed. The soldiers were still outside. Miles was still crying.

He padded over to the small bed and pulled himself up onto the side. "Would you like to hear a bedtime story, Lord Miles?"

Miles quieted, as he always did at the sound of Gregor's voice. Slowly, he nodded.

"Once upon a time, there was a little stegosaurus," began Gregor in his best storytelling voice, bringing out the toy from behind his back. Miles' eyes widened.

"An evil wizard put a curse on the stegosaurus, that broke his leg," continued Gregor. "He was sad, because his brother could run and play and he couldn't." He showed Miles the broken leg. "One day, the Emperor of that planet was riding through the forest when he heard someone crying. So he sent ImpSec to find out what was wrong. When he heard the story, he was very angry. He called his guards, and they rode for three days and three nights. ImpSec gave the stegosaurus a big float-chair so that he could ride beside the Emperor." He made the stegosaurus ride across Miles' stomach, and Miles giggled.

"At last they came to a great black castle." Here Gregor lowered his voice. "The castle was surrounded by a deep moat, and dragons breathed fire over its highest tower, where the evil wizard worked his spells." He let out a fearsome roar. Miles giggled again, more sleepily, reaching out to take the toy from Gregor.

"First the monsters in the moat came up to eat them. But when the Emperor commanded them to go back, they returned to the water. Then the wizard sent his dragons to burn the army. But when the dragons saw their Emperor, they flew down and bent their heads, and the Emperor and his army rode on their backs, all the way up to the tower."

Miles was quiet now, his eyelids beginning to droop."When the evil wizard saw the Emperor with his drawn sword, he begged for mercy. 'You have broken my laws and harmed my subjects,' said the Emperor. 'But I will show mercy to you, if you lift your curse from this stegosaurus.' So the wizard lifted his curse, and the Emperor let him go."

"Then the Emperor took the little stegosaurus back to his family, and he could run and play, just like his brother." Gregor paused and heard a small snore. He looked down to see Miles fast asleep, curled up with the plastic stegosaurus.

Gregor searched the room until he found a small tube of glue. Then he carefully fixed the stegosaurus's leg and laid it back in the bed.


End file.
